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Wednesday, 8 May 2013

TEENAGE QUEEN

by Dennis Murphy

This true story was written by my mate Dennis "Spud" Murphy, who I went to school with in Canberra. Spud grew up in the Berra and began singing and playing the blues harmonica in local blues bands in his teenage years, as well as at "Folk, Blues and Beyond," a venue that was held in the hall at Corroboree Park. He has continued to sing and play the blues to this day but now lives in Hobart.

Dave Wheeler

TEENAGE QUEEN

By Dennis Murphy

In September ‘59
my Uncle Frank picked my family up from the Woolloomooloo docks in a new, blue
and white, FC station wagon. It was my first day in Australia and he drove us
from Sydney to Canberra via Mittagong, Goulburn and Collector. We arrived in
the ‘berra at dusk and the first thing he showed us was our new home - a block
of land in the then infant suburb of Dickson with a slab of concrete on it.

Two days later my
father, Tommy Murphy, an Irish bricklayer, was introduced to two other Irish
bricklayers by my uncle. One of the bricklayers was named Paddy Prentice. The
three men then proceeded to build a garage that was to become our home for the
next eighteen months, until my father was able to finish building our house.

A recent photo of what was the Murphy family home at 81 Cowper Street, Dickson, showing the garage that is referred to in the last paragraph.

I can remember Paddy
because he was often around at our house. He had a son “Kevin” who was a year
older than me, a daughter Rosemary, who was the same age as my older sister
(about two and a half years older than me) and a younger daughter who was at
least five years younger than me. Paddy’s wife seemed quite tall and fair
whereas Paddy was more olive in his complexion and short.

I bumped into
Kevin occasionally over the years and it was always in a pub. He inherited his
height from his mother’s side of the family and as a result was a reasonably
big bloke. His complexion was somewhere between his mum’s and his dad’s. Kevin
was a bricklayer like his dad and a likeable larrikin. He was an archetypal
Australian for his generation.

I saw quite a bit
of Rosemary as we visited the Prentices’ and they visited us. Rosemary also
used to come around to see my older sister, Rita. I remember Rosemary lent my
sister a couple of 45 singles. One was “Teenage Queen” by Johnny Cash.

I was about eleven
or twelve at the time so Rosemary would have been fourteen or fifteen. I liked
her more than my sister’s other school friends because she was the friendliest
and in my opinion the best looking of my sister’s friends.

My sister lost touch
with Rosemary as Rosemary left school early, probably to become a hairdresser.
I say that because she always looked very glamorous and well groomed. Looking back she had a beautiful face with
big blue/green eyes. Her hair was dark.
A year or so later I picked up from a conversation between my mother and
Rosemary’s mother, that Rosemary was going through a rebellious phase.

The last time I
saw Rosemary was when I was about 15. It was at the Canadian Hell Drivers show
at the Canberra Showgrounds. The Hell Drivers were a bunch of four wheeled Eval
Knevals’ doing death defying stunts. I entered the showgrounds in dazzling
fashion. The security guards who were dressed in white lab coats had cut off
all the gate crashers at the only point where we could sneak in. Rather than
turn back I decided to try my luck.

The security men were not very athletic so
I broke from the pack of forty or so prospective crashers and ran at the
guards. Playing on the wing in both league and union I had reasonable evasive
skills and acceleration. I split the defence and most of the other crashers
followed my example. The quicker kids made it through.I sat down near a
group of older boys who belonged to the bodgie subculture. Some of these blokes
had girls. One of the girls sitting down was Rosemary who was probably
seventeen at that time. She was sitting up against some lucky bloke. I caught
her eye and we smiled and waved. It was sunset and she looked great. At this
age I was experiencing the suicidal attraction that youths develop for the
opposite sex.

The next I heard
of Rosemary was from my mother who was very distraught. She advised me that
Rosemary had been killed in a car crash. That was in mid 1960’s. Paddy an
emotional man at the best of times, and his wife were devastated.

I am still a
Johnny Cash fan and I have played his songs for years but for some reason just
recently “Teenage Queen” triggered off my dormant memory of Rosemary. Life is
such a random thing.

Dennis MurphyThe first photo below shows Spud Murphy in recent times accompanied by his blues harmonica, singing and blowing at a venue in Hobart. The drummer is Trevor Pearce and the guitarist is Rob Harwood.

The photo below shows Spud Murphy (on the left, running in front) and his mates in or around 1970, in the Berra. The expressions on their faces displays the exuberance of their youth.The lads running behind Spud from left to right are Rob Thomsett, the late Peter Spellman, Erik Olbrei and the late Tom Parvey.

About This Site

This site carries on from a previous site in which I sold a book entitled “Tales of a Canberra Boy,” which is out of print. I will however, allow readers to download it free of charge as I'm a great bloke and because the site is costing me nothing to run, and due to the kindness of a mate setting it up for me. To download it click on the appropriate button above & and when the cover appears click on the title of the book which is written in small writing below it. You can also download free of charge "A Rationalist's Guide to Life" using the same procedure. It is a rewrite of an earlier book I wrote which is also out of print. If you are prepared to commit to Rationalism you will get a lot out of it, otherwise it will bore you shitless. If you have an interest in the history of Canberra visit the site owned by a mate, Dave Reid, at http://www.davesact.com/ It gives an excellent overview of Canberra's history and provides interesting historical yarns. In regard to my background it is detailed in "Tales of a Canberra Boy."